14 November 2025 - Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Peggy Sue

You want one more from Texas?

What about this 1950s sensation - the Crickets - formed in Lubbock, TX in 1957.  Now, Buddy Holly was already established as a musician himself - and he co-wrote this song and released it as a single himself in September 1957, billed as Buddy Holly, and not The Crickets.  

Confused as to why I have "& The Crickets" in the title here? 

Because The Crickets were always there. 

This performance - from December 1957 and The Ed Sullivan Show - featured the band.  And, c'mon - Jerry Allison, another co-writer of the song (along with Norman Petty) was the drummer for the Crickets and on this song, which really leans hard on the eclectic drum beat to guide it. The rest of the Crickets also performed on the recording...

... which really sounded a lot like this.  So, enjoy this classic performance. 

14 November 2025 - Kelly Willlis - Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim

Kelly Willis is an extremely talented singer and songwriter who spent a lot of time living and performing in Austin, TX.  Actually, because of her nomadic background, I could have put her in Virginia (where she went to high school) , or North Carolina, or even Kansas.  But Texas is where she has made a lot of her music.

Besides, no matter where I put her, she'd be the second post of the day.  

Anyway, she's a fantastic singer/songwriter.  But she didn't write this one.  It's a cover, of a song originally performed by Kirsty MacColl - who is British.  It is a delightful folk song but Kelly Willis puts a bit of twang on it - and makes it her own, so much so that a lot of people think it IS hers.   

From her 2002 album Easy, here it is.  

14 November 2025 - St. Vincent - New York

Today is Texas day, so what better time for.... a song titled for another state?   Yeah, I didn't really think this one through.

But Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, grew up in Dallas.  SHE is from Texas.  

And "New York" is not a typical St. Vincent song.  There's no amazing guitar solos.  It's an unironic piano ballad about the end of a relationship.  Originally featured on her Massseduction album, the song was co-written by Clark and Jack Antonoff, who also both produced the song (and album).

It's kind of a sad song, but also kind of beautiful.   It has become one of my favorite songs of hers.  

And yes.  She does swear. 

This is not the only version of "New York" that Annie Clark recorded.   

As a bonus track on the Japanese version of her Daddy's Home album, St. Vincent teamed up with Japanese musician Yoshiki to rerecord the song.  It's similar but not the same.   

More remarkable is the MassEducation piano version of the song - this album featured piano versions of the songs from Massseduction.  It's even more stripped down - a lot of it is acapella, honestly.   

This is my favorite version of the song. 

Of course, this is a song she's performed many, many times.  One of my favorites was her acoustic guitar rendition of the song from the BAM Virtual Gala in 2020.

Contrast this with her Austin City Limits performance, which is still emotional, but also far from stripped down.  

13 November 2025 - fIREHOSE - Walking The Cow

This is the only song during this whole American Autumn thing I'm doing that is being featured twice.

You see, this song was originally performed by and written by West Virginia's Daniel Johnston.  This version was from this San Pedro, CA band's album Flyin' The Flannel.  

For those unaware, fIREHOSE was formed from the ashes of The Minutemen - after leader d. Boon passed, a man named Ed Crawford from Ohio - you could say he's Eddie From Ohio but that's a different band - pestered Mike Watt to the point of moving to San Pedro and offering to be their lead vocalist..... which is where Ed fROMOHIO came to be and where fIREHOSE came to be.  

Anyway, Ed doesn't sing this song, although he is the guitarist.  Mike Watt provided vocals and boom stick.  George Hurley, of course, is on the skins. 

Mike Watt also had a solo career for a bit (probably still does - it's pretty econo, though) and recruited a lot of people to perform live with him - like Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder - and yes, he did this song live. 

13 November 2025 - Huey Lewis & The News - Heart And Soul

For our second California post....let's talk about the darlings of the San Francisco Bay area.  

We are talking about Huey Lewis and the News and NOT ANY OTHER BAND. 

This song was the band's second US Top 10 hit, reaching that in 1983 as the lead single from their album Sports. Written by songwriting team Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, this song was originally performed by Exile, but this version was more popular and garnered a Grammy nomination (that lost to The Police).  

The song itself is one of my favorites of theirs, and would remain a fan favorite even as it was eclipsed by later hits. 

Huey's story has a saddish ending - he started going deaf and performed as long as he could, but he did eventually lose his hearing to the point where he could no longer sing.  A cochlear implant allowed him to hear speech, but not music and no longer allowed him to sing.

Which is a shame, because he never lost his stage presence, even 30 years after his hitmaking years.  

13 November 2025 - Doja Cat - Stranger

Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini was born in Los Angeles, California in 1995.  

You probably know her better as Doja Cat, and she is the quintessential Californian.  She gives a cool, multitalented vibe.

A couple of months ago, she released her latest album, Vie.  It is, in my opinion, unexpectedly excellent - one of my favorites this year, and a return to real pop music.  This is one of the album tracks that got a music video - a video with more than a little debt to North by Northwest.   It is indicative of how excellent the whole album is.   

12 November 2025 - Prince and the Revolution - When Doves Cry

I could not do Minnesota and not give a nod to Prince Rogers Nelson - whose middle and last name you may not have known.  

From his semiautobiographical movie Purple Rain and album of the same name, this song opens side 2 of the album.  It was clearly meant to be a (slower) dance song, but, in an unusual move for the period, there is absolutely no bassline.  It's unconventional, with just guitar, drum machine loop, and synthesizer.  

It's also a song I hated in 1984.  All these years later, I get it a lot more, and it's one of my favorites by him. 

As genius as the simple song was, the live version - this was from Japan in 1990 - may be even more dynamic.